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Monday, November 24, 2008
JDV accuses Arroyo of 'impropriety'
MANILA -- A former ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo accused her Sunday of committing "a major impropriety" for allegedly socializing with officials of a Chinese company seeking a contract with her government.
The House of Representatives is currently considering an impeachment complaint against President Arroyo that maintains she approved the granting of a $300 million national broadband contract to China's ZTE Corp. in 2007 despite knowledge that the deal was tainted with bribery allegations.
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Arroyo has consistently denied any wrongdoing in the deal, and the House, which is dominated by her allies, is widely expected to soon dismiss the complaint. ZTE has denied offering bribe or huge commissions to any Philippine official.
But in a new twist, former House Speaker Jose de Venecia said Sunday he was willing to testify in Congress to support the impeachment complaint.
De Venecia has previously led the House of Representatives in blocking two opposition impeachment bids against the President in recent years until their longtime alliance frayed.
Still a member of the House, de Venecia said Sunday that Arroyo invited him to join her on a trip to China in November 2, 2006, and that he didn't know they would play golf and have lunch with ZTE officials at the Chinese telecommunications company's headquarters in Shenzhen, China.
"You know it's a main contender for the contract and here you are being invited to a golf game and having lunch with that company," de Venecia told The Associated Press by telephone.
Asked if he thought Arroyo violated any law or committed an impropriety, de Venecia said he was not sure if her action constituted a violation of any law but added she at least committed "a major impropriety."
First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo meantime has called de Venecia "a liar" after saying it was him who suggested undertaking as a "government-to-government deal" the cancelled broadband network project between the Philippine government and ZTE Corporation.
"I never suggested anything... that JDV (de Venecia) is a liar and you can tell him to his face. He is a liar, do not believe him," Arroyo said in an ambush interview at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Quezon City.
He, however, declined to elaborate the statement, dismissing talks of politics.
Presidential son Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo also called the attention of the mediamen, telling them not to ask political questions.
The President's husband stayed overnight at St. Luke's Medical Center following a bout of diarrhea. He was discharged around 12:35 p.m. Sunday and fetched by Representative Arroyo and youngest son, Camarines Representative Diosdado Ignacio Arroyo.
De Venecia, in his biography entitled "Global Filipino: The Authorized Biography of Jose de Venecia Jr., the Visionary Five-Time Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines," said Mr. Arroyo suggested the government-to-government scheme in undertaking the National Broadband Network (NBN) project during a supposed secret meeting in Shenzhen, China.
De Venecia said that the First Couple were present in the meeting, with both of them hardly saying anything. However, after having lunch and a game of golf at the ZTE Corporation's headquarters, Mr. Arroyo reportedly made the suggestion and the President later changed her policy of undertaking the NBN project from a build-operate-transfer scheme to a government-to-government deal.
In a television interview Sunday, de Venecia said it was clear that during the meeting, the First Couple and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Benjamin Abalos Jr. finally made the decision among themselves to award the NBN project to ZTE.
This resulted in the Philippine government's acquiring of a loan guarantee and the awarding of the project to ZTE Corporation. The project, however, was later cancelled.
It was the first time de Venecia has talked about his knowledge of alleged irregularity in the contract.
De Venecia fell out of favor with President Arroyo after his son, a losing bidder, testified last year in Senate hearings into the bribery allegations.
Mr. Arroyo was also implicated in the scandal, and he, too, has denied wrongdoing.
Deputy Presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said any allegation against the President "will not hold water" unless a court upholds it after scrutiny of evidence.
He added that de Venecia's biography could not be used in court as evidence if that is his goal and that of the administration's critics.
Golez said biographies are very easy to write and could be taken as hearsay or even a "science fiction" unless the court acknowledged it as truth.
"If it is going to be used as evidence for another motivation or intention, it will not hold water. That is a story. This has to be appreciated by our courts if they wished to use it. Only then can we call that the biography of the truth. Otherwise, it may not be labeled as an autobiography but as science fiction," he said. (JMR/With AP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (November 24, 2008 issue)
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